Judge Margit Simon (L) waits for documents from lawyer Peter Zamecsnik (2nd R) during a court ruling, in which Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Radimir Cacic was given a prison sentence, in Kaposvar November 14, 2012.

REUTERS

BUDAPEST: Croatia's deputy prime minister, Radimir Cacic, has been given a 22-month prison sentence by a Hungarian court for causing a fatal car crash in Hungary in 2010, a court spokesman and Cacic's lawyer told Reuters on Wednesday.

In a previous ruling in June, Cacic was given a suspended 22-month prison sentence but this has now been changed and Cacic will need to start his sentence probably in 1-2 months, Attila Vadocz, spokesman for the Kaposvar court said.

Cacic is also economy minister and Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic's closest ally in the centre-left cabinet. The ruling is not open to appeal.